1. Sleep and the memory.

Many people think that sleep must be important for learning and memory but until recently there was
no proof. Scientists also believe the hippocampus plays a role in making long term memories. But they
weren't sure how. Now they understand how the process happens. And why sleep. Is so important.
Memories in motion. A research team at Rutgers University recently discovered a type of brain activity
that happens during sleep. The activity transfers new information from the hippocampus to the neo
cortex. The neo cortex stores long term memories the researchers call the transferring activity sharp
wave reptiles because the transferring activity it looks like. Powerful short waves. The brain creates
these waves in the hippocampus during the deepest levels of sleep. The Rutgers scientists discovered
the wave activity in a two thousand nine study it using rats they train to the rats to learn a routine amaze.
Then they let the rats sleep after the training session they gave one group of sleeping rats and drug the
drug is stopped the rats wave activity as a result this group of rats had trouble remembering the route.
The reason. The new information didn't have a chance to leave the hippocampus and go to the neo
cortex. Lifelong memories. The experiment explains how we create long term memories. The wave
activity transfers short term memories from the hippocampus to the neo cortex then the neo cortex turns
the sharp wave ripples into long term memories. Researchers George Pataki says this is why certain
events may only take place once in the waking state and yet can be remembered for a lifetime. The
Rutgers study is important because it proves the importance of sleep for learning and memory. It also
finally explains how the brain makes long term memories.